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She turned and slid her arms around his neck. “Are you sure?”
He grinned. “Yeah. You know why?”
“Smiling looks good on you.” Deb’s small, strong hands cupped his cheeks. “You should do it more often. But no, tell me why you’re so sure.”
Michael pulled his tiny but mighty baker a little closer. “Because he looks at her the way I look at you. I love you, Deb, with all my heart.”
She smiled and blinked rapidly. “I love you, too.”
He brought her close and kissed her. Every day was a gift with Deb. They’d built a strong foundation despite the fires of adversity, and their love would only rise higher and grow stronger with each new challenge and success.
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Deb handed Sophia and Isabella their favorite cookies. “Enjoy!” The two scampered to the child-sized table next to Deb’s new decorating station, custom made by Michael. The station’s base adjusted up and down with the push of a button, the top was easy-to-clean quartz, with a built-in turntable, and custom-designed snap-on platforms for larger cakes, plus holders for cupcake trays. It made decorating so much easier, and she’d used it a lot over the last five months.
Michael had made so much of her business easier. The two of them, plus Kim and Nic, had streamlined her cupcake production, and built custom stations and tools to implement that process. Taking out the customer seating and bakery case increased the bakery’s efficiency, too. Sometimes she missed interacting with her customers and she no longer got all the Marcus gossip, but she’d decreased costs a lot, too.
Kim sighed. “I guess we’ll head to the park after this, or those two will be bouncing off the walls tonight.”
Deb grinned. “Sorry, not sorry. I’m a baker, and sugar is how I show love.” She handed Kim a small pink box. “Besides, you’ll benefit too. There’s extra cupcakes in there.” She waggled her brows ridiculously.
Her sister laughed. “Thanks. I think. I’m supposed to gain a little weight, not balloon to three hundred pounds.”
Deb waved her concerns away. “You’re gorgeous, mama. And you’re hitting all the milestones perfectly.” Kim looked like she’d swallowed a beach ball. From behind, most would never know she was pregnant. Deb was fairly certain that if she ever got pregnant, she would look like a whale, and be as graceful as an elephant seal on land. Still, she was hoping that day might come sooner rather than later.
“So the doctor says.” Kim put her hands on her lower back. “But my body disagrees.”
The back door beeped—someone had entered the correct code—and it opened, letting Nic inside. He strode to Kim, bending to kiss her. He rubbed her stomach. “You’re perfect in every way, just like this little one.”
Kim gazed at Nic with a lovestruck, adoring look Deb recognized. The back door beeped again, and Deb turned, anticipating Michael’s arrival.
He crossed the bakery, took her in his arms, dipped her and kissed her. She held his shoulders tight, and forgot her concerns about his back, lost in the feel of his lips on hers. Nic cleared his throat, and Michael pulled her upright, smiling. “Hey, cupcake queen. How did everything go today?”
“Perfect.” Deb ignored her sister and brother-in-law, giving him one more quick kiss. “Happy six-month anniversary. I made us something special.” She grinned.
“It’s a good thing I had a demolition after PT this morning.” He grinned back. “Got to earn my treats.”
After their adventures, Michael’s back had worsened. The VA sent him to a new doctor, who worked with a physical therapist, acupuncturist, bio-feedback specialist, nutritionist and a psychologist. The combination of therapies had decreased Michael’s pain and given him more tools to handle what remained. He still got migraines, but the frequency had decreased, and he could deal with the severity better.
Deb had worked with the nutritionist to develop a line of low-sugar cupcakes, along with gluten-free and higher-fiber alternatives. While her regular cupcakes were the most popular, the options she offered satisfied a wider customer base and opened up a whole new business. She shipped all kinds of cupcakes overnight in special insulated boxes to customers around the world. But the bulk of her business remained local coffee shops and stores, with a sprinkling of special orders for individuals and special events. She was perfectly happy with that; she didn’t need national attention or millionaire status.
Neither did Michael. Acer Home Improvement had more job offers than they could handle, so they took the most interesting projects, including work for those who couldn’t afford their services. Over the last few months, three different talent agents had offered to shop home renovation television shows to the networks, but they’d turned all of them down cold. Neither man had any desire to be a star or bring any more attention to Marcus, Montana. They’d all had enough cameras shoved in their faces in the aftermath of the Koslov shooting.
“Hey, where did you go?” Michael rubbed her back. “Wherever it was, come back. We have a celebration to attend.”
“We do?” Deb didn’t remember anything on her calendar.
“Yeah. You, me, dinner and a cupcake for our six-month anniversary.” Michael chuckled. “No need to dress up or go out.”
She laughed. Michael had come a long way from the grumpy, gruff, isolated man he used to be, but he still preferred to stay home in sweats rather than dressing up for a fancy meal. She had no problem with that. Her wedding and anniversary cakes got her plenty of invitations to swanky events, so she appreciated the chance to wear slippers rather than stilettos. Not that she wore high heels to set up elaborate cakes; she was a baker, not a gymnast.
“But before our celebration, we have another event, first.” Michael swallowed hard and shifted his shoulders, like he was nervous. The back door beeped, and her favorite people in the world streamed inside. Erin and Ryan, Sam, Wiz, Tom, and Pete, plus Geo and a few of his Copperline Security folks, and some of the local business owners.
She waved at all of them, then turned back to Michael. “What’s going on?”
“Well, while we’ll celebrate privately later, everyone here had a hand in bringing us together, and making sure we survived to make it to this anniversary. Plus, they’ve all supported us while we got our businesses back on track. So, I figured they all deserved to see this.” Michael got down on one knee.
